The Freak Show Foreman

Chapter 82 Test of the Rose Windmill Cabaret (16)

It didn't take long for Bouvalle to return.

He climbed onto the stage with a somber expression, bowing towards the audience.

"Apologies for keeping you waiting. We acknowledge that there was a mistake on the part of our organizers."

He pulled out a crumpled paper from his pocket.

"Lord Dosville had, kindly, researched and determined the pricing basis.

In recent years, a new puzzle series had been created with a certain ratio between mass-produced items and originals forming the price. As the puzzle series exceeded 100 and the production quantity and demand from enthusiasts remained steady, a kind of market price had been established.

Depending on the difficulty of the puzzle, the original ranged from 200 to 600 times the mass-produced item.

The organizing committee assigned a value 500 times that of the original puzzle received by Maya.

According to the rules, the price of the prize, i.e., the value of 500 puzzles, was deducted from the revenue."

Lweeni's face tightened as he listened to the explanation.

The members couldn't hide their expressions of disappointment either.

No one bothered to do the calculations.

The result was set.

Bouvalle raised his hand, and the spotlight moved in the opposite direction.

"The winner is the Silver Veil Circus!"

Delayed applause and cheers followed.

Compared to what Pandora had received, it was considerably smaller, and people's expressions seemed awkward.

The reactions of those who received the award were also lackluster.

It felt like stealing a prize that someone else should have received.

Arno was not comfortable either.

He didn't think that the original provided as a prize had accounted for the sales of 500 puzzles.

In reality, the award was given around lunchtime on the first day of the competition.

The prize had hardly played a role in revenue growth.

Excluding 500 was an unfair measure.

But what could he do at this point?

Forfeit?

The thought crossed his mind momentarily, but he shook his head.

He and the members hadn't approached the competition with a light heart to throw away the victory that had come to them.

Moreover, surrendering at this point would only lead to the other side saying, "Oh, thank you," without receiving the award.

Should he point out the 500 parts?

When he thought about excluding the sales before the puzzle was solved…

When his thoughts reached that point, he met eyes with Lweeni on the other side.

He looked much older than when he confidently declared victory.

He gave a bitter smile and lowered his head towards Arno.

While pretending to guide him to the center of the stage, Bouvalle whispered softly.

"Even if you exclude, it's still your victory."

Ah.

It seemed that the organizers had anticipated such objections and had calculated for them.

Arno made up his mind.

If he hesitated here, the situation would only become more confusing.

Standing in the center of the stage, he expressed his feelings of victory.

Half of the content was about how excellently the opponent had fought.

Knowing his feelings, when he finished his speech, the cheers and applause directed at him were much louder than before.

Pandora's people also congratulated him.

Lweeni's expression looked a bit more resigned than before.

***

The first week's showdown was thrilling.

Each participant showcased distinct performances, unexpected factors that determined sales, and even surprising twists.

Of course, the person who brought about the outcome wasn't warmly welcomed.

"Ella supported Pandora, didn't she? It's a shame."

"Well, there's nothing wrong with the Viscount's words. It couldn't be helped."

Ella sat inside the carriage, holding onto her notebook and diligently writing something.

From the first day, she had been diligently taking notes whenever she came across good ideas or strategies. And she incorporated them into our program.

She embraced the good aspects and corrected the shortcomings.

Late-night work was frequent.

She was currently re-evaluating the "products and prizes" clause.

Just to make sure our prepared program wouldn't cause any problems.

"How is it? Is there any chance that our 'thing' might violate the rules?"

Ella scratched the back of her head while flipping through her notes.

Her hair was untidy, and dark circles lingered beneath her eyes.

She mentioned working overnight analyzing sales, strategies, and performances.

As the time for our performance approached, she slept less and less.

"I checked again, fortunately, there are no issues. In the first place, the prize side… Pandora made a mistake. If he had been a bit more careful in reviewing and cautious in setting the rules, there wouldn't have been any problems…"

Ella said with a regretful expression.

She flipped through her notes with one hand while twirling a pen with the other.

And not with both fingers but with just one finger.

Yet, the pen didn't escape her hand.

While spinning the pen, the center of the centrifugal force of her constantly changing finger position kept moving.

It was truly a remarkable talent.

Others next to her looked at her hand skills with astonished eyes.

However, she continued to talk about her evaluation of this round, seemingly oblivious to the attention directed at her.

"I'm also worried about the stamina of the Escape King. He has to continue this journey for over two years, and I don't know if he can maintain that form."

She said that and then tossed the spinning pen.

The pen found its way into the thin tip of a portable ink bottle.

"Wow!"

Yurakne exclaimed and clapped, Sven laughed loudly, and Maya blinked while alternating between the pen and Ella's hand.

Ella, aware or unaware of the attention she was receiving, looked up, smiling shyly.

"What's so surprising about this?"

She was a born acrobat.

Although she looked quite exhausted, receiving applause seemed to energize her, and she went on to showcase a few more tricks using the pen.

And so, we enjoyed Ella's small performance, losing track of time, and arrived at the hotel.

"Oh, right. Did you get the tickets and coins for the second week?"

Just before getting off the carriage, she grabbed my arm and asked.

I showed her the pouch in my hand.

"For now. But we decided not to go, didn't we?"

As we prepared for the third week's competition, we needed to wrap up what we had prepared during the second week. There was no time to leisurely watch performances.

Ella clapped her hands.

"It's okay. I'll go alone."

"Alone?"

"Yeah. I have less to do now. On the contrary, you and Maya have more to do now."

I couldn't easily agree with her words.

While it was true that she had fewer tasks, it was also true that Maya and I had more to do. Yet, she still had more tasks than the two of us combined.

"I won't be gone for long. Just consider it as reconnaissance… laughs."

The girl jumped off the carriage.

However, her landing posture was somewhat strange.

Her body swayed a little, though not much.

For anyone else, it would have been a perfectly normal move.

But I had seen her get off the carriage several times in the past few weeks.

She had never stumbled or hesitated before while getting on or off the carriage. She moved smoothly, like flowing water.

But now, something was off.

"Ella."

"Yeah?"

"Taking care of your stamina is not someone else's concern. Aren't you pushing yourself too hard?"

At my words, she gave me a surprised expression.

I, too, was momentarily taken aback by my own words.

Who had been taking on all the responsibilities for her lately?

It was me.

She looked at me with a slightly annoyed expression.

Before I could say anything, she chuckled.

"Don't worry. Helping this circus troupe run smoothly is part of the contract. Besides, I'm not really pushing myself too hard. I've been doing this for the whole month."

The whole month?

Before I could respond, she swiftly walked into the building.

The next day, we started preparing for the performance in earnest.

Our current script digestion rate was 25%.

Now was the time to double that.

The performance wasn't just about the actors.

Even if the cast mastered all the acting and skills in the script, it couldn't exceed 50%.

Costumes, props, set, special effects.

All of these contributed to the completeness of the performance.

Ella believed that her handmade tools could add about 20%.

So, she had been focusing on improving the abilities of the troupe members.

While costumes, props, and set took time to create, they were enough when completed.

But there was significant progress compared to the original plan.

Maya's joining had greatly improved the quality of props and set.

Despite the tight schedule, thanks to an additional three weeks, we barely managed to meet the deadline for special effects.

Maya could now create illusions like explosions, lightning, and fog.

Most importantly, there was significant progress in costumes.

Ella doubted that Maya could improve costumes by more than 4% no matter how hard she tried.

That's where my new ability shone.

The Dressing room.

I had recorded and cataloged the clothes I had seen and touched. By paying Debulroot rent, I could create and dress anyone in the desired clothes. Of course, the added function of 'cast management' made it possible only for me and the troupe members.

One good thing about this ability was that the clothes adjusted to the wearer's body size.

Thanks to this, we could venture into unexplored territory.

"Yrahp!"

Womon tore open a wooden box with a crowbar.

Inside, there was a red-energized Armor borrowed from Anais.

We had three stages of battle against 'vampires' in the game.

Wearing an apron and wielding a knife, the 'bloodstain.'

Wearing chainmail and holding a hammer, the 'forge.'

Wearing armor and wielding a hook, the 'furnace.'

We could easily arrange the first two for Womon.

However, the problem was the last one.

No matter how hard we tried, we couldn't find armor for him.

His physique was massive, and his body shape was different from an ordinary human.

His abnormally broad shoulders, the odd shape of muscles, and the disproportionate length of arms and legs.

So, Ella had given up on finding armor for him.

Not to mention, it wasn't easy to find suitable clothing for each troupe member due to their individual physical characteristics.

But thanks to my dressing room ability, we could solve most of these problems.